I had the same boat and that happened. In my case, the cable was starting to rust, and eventually snapped while I was driving, which was dangerous. I had it replaced with a better stearing system. I think he called it "rack and pinion". It never had trouble again.

Does it have a tilt wheel? I have a '93 Sunsetter w/ tilt & it was really hard to turn & had alot of up & down movement & eventually locked up (I procrastinate) Turns out it was the tilt unit. There is a U-joint in there & it broke. I had already ordered a new helm & steering cable (skidim.com) so I replaced it all & eliminated the tilt assembly. But the old steering cable & helm (gearbox behind dash) were still in perfect working order.